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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27827221">Friends for Dinner</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadsie/pseuds/Shadsie'>Shadsie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Robin and Jerome's Excellent Adventures [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bugs, Cannibalism, Dinner, Donner Party situation, Food, Gen, Mention of Gore, No actual violence, Survival, The Kingdom of Dryl, The Kingdom of Snows, War Stories, budding spacebat culture, pairings mentioned but not important, sensitive material but nothing fitting in neatly with the given tags, set after Chapter 4 of Through a Mirror Darkly by Rakshadaemon, set after the events of Wounds to Scars, spacebat psychology</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:13:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,319</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27827221</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadsie/pseuds/Shadsie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Scorpia and Perfuma are invited into the Crypto Castle for lunch after a produce-delivery mission to the Kingdom of Dryl, which is now swarming with Horde clones who are acclimating to life on Etheria.  They share lunch with a pair who has gained some small fame, Robin and Jerome, who travel and give dignity to the dead of their people.  The two Princesses hear a war story from the clone-perspective.  </p>
<p>There is a reason why Robin became a vegetarian.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra), Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Robin and Jerome's Excellent Adventures [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1940374</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>40</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Friends for Dinner</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This story is a part of the Robin and Jerome's Excellent Adventures series and takes place chronologically after the events of "Wounds to Scars."  It also takes place after Chapter 4 of "Through a mirror, darkly" by Rakshademon, who borrowed Robin and a mention of Jerome with my permission and support.  </p>
<p>Not for people with a phobia of giant bugs, aside from the other sensitive material tagged.  Nothing is graphic, just a mention of unpleasant things.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong>Friends for Dinner</strong> <br/><br/><br/>“This place sure has gotten populated from the last time I’ve been here,” Scorpia proclaimed while pulling the cart of supplies.  <br/><br/>Perfuma had let the vine-golem that had trucked the wagon most of the way whither into the ground after they’d been let into the courtyard of the Crypto Castle.  Many, many Horde-clones milled about on different kinds of business or carried out tasks.  There were standard Etherians among them, humans, goat-folk, a short little goblin-like fellow, as well as robots.  <br/><br/>The flower-Princess looked around uneasily.  She knew in the forefront of her mind that she should not judge, and that the “spacebats” as so many people were now calling them, were as much victims of Horde Prime as any Etherian, but there was still an instinct to see them as threatening, with the memories of them taking over towns and hurting her friends fresh in her mind – not to mention having seen Prime, himself, face-to-face.  Sure, she’d known Wrong Hordak, but only under close supervision by Entrapta. Scorpia, on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly comfortable, even excited.  There were many new potential friends to meet, should they be ready for it, and, in her words, it was “nice to see that Entrapta and the old boss won’t be so lonely anymore.”  <br/><br/>Perfuma, for her part, found Scorpia far too forgiving of Hordak, even though such a kind nature was her favorite thing about her partner.  Hadn’t he destroyed her kingdom?  No…no… from what Scorpia told her, it really was much more complicated than that, but it still hadn’t ended well.  As long as Hordak and Entrapta had no more interest in conquest, she supposed – or killer robots – but she wasn’t sure that Entrapta would ever get over killer robots, regardless of having signed a treaty stating that she’d never build weapons again.  The robots in City Dryl right now seemed peaceful enough.  <br/><br/>A familiar bot rolled up to them.  “Hey, Emily! I missed you!” Scorpia exclaimed as the round-bodied former-drone nuzzled up to her with happy beeps and became the recipient of one of Scorpia’s famous hugs.  “Ooh, it looks like Entrapta was able to buff out those claw-marks.  Good for you!”   <br/><br/>“Hiii-ieee!”  Entrapta called to them, bounding up to them on her hair.  She held a data-pad that she seemed to be paying more attention to than to them. She looked up at the sizeable supply-wagon.  “Ooh, is that the fruit?  Good, good!  There’s a lot of it, but…” she spread her arms out, “Eventually, we’re gonna need MORE!  A lot more!”  <br/><br/>“Well, we did plant new orchards, and the magic returned to the land is really helping their growth,” Perfuma assured, “But this is all we can spare for now, in light of getting everyone settled again after the war.  How much more do you think you’ll need?”  <br/><br/>“Weeelll,” Entrapta began, “More and more of the clones have asked to try solid food every day! Most of them are still taking the amniotic fluid, but the supplies from the spires and the big ship are getting low, and we really do need to advance on weaning them if we want them to survive!  We’ve got a group up here that’s been wandering all around, and still another group that’s still pretty traumatized and barely even comes outside at all!  They’re overwhelmed by everything. Try not to spook them, okay?” <br/><br/>“No sudden moves, gotcha!”  Scorpia said with a little salute.  <br/><br/>“Well, I can approach them… They seem to be easier around me than most Etherians for some reason.  I think that some of Hordak’s memories seeped into the hive mind by accident.  Sweet of him to think of me so much, dontcha think?”  <br/><br/>Perfuma smiled.  “Actually, it is.”  She looked around.  “I never thought that I’d ever describe Hordak as…tender?”<br/><br/>“Oh, he’s very tender,” Entrapta said with a cheeky smile.  “Especially his bottom after he slipped in the lab the other day and landed on it!”  <br/><br/>Perfuma looked down.  Scorpia put a claw on her shoulder.  “Okay, didn’t need to know that,” Scorpia said.  <br/><br/>“Anyway,” Entrapta said, leading the way for them, Emily trundling at her side. “You two must be tired.  You ought to come inside, rest and have some lunch!  I’ll have the chefs make up something special for us!  And a couple of my clone-friends are already in the dining room!  You might actually know them, these two wander around everywhere.”  <br/><br/>“You disabled the traps, right?” Perfuma asked, looking around warily.  <br/><br/>“Of course I did!” Entrapta said bouncing along.  “Otherwise, they’d be a nightmare for all my new friends!”  She sidled up to Perfuma, held a hand up to her mouth and whispered; “The clones aren’t so good at dodging.  A couple of them got caught in my trap-door cages and one almost got crushed in the cruncher. Most of them seem to like the castle-layout, though.  Hordak says it reminds them of the Velvet Glove – endless corridors.  They do still get lost from time to time.”  <br/><br/>She stopped suddenly when they entered a dining hall.  “Oh, we’re here!  Go ahead, sit down, get comfy!  I’ll be right back!”  <br/><br/>Entrapta grabbed her two friends with her hair and practically shoved them down into seats at the table and bounded off.  Emily followed her.  Scorpia and Perfuma found themselves blinking awkwardly at a pair of clones seated across from them, apparently discussing the merits of different kinds of fruit in a bowl.  <br/><br/>“Oh, hello!” one of them said, raising up one of his sharp-tipped hands in an awkward wave, making it pretty obvious that he was new to common Etherian greetings and was trying his best.   <br/><br/>The other turned and looked, but generally went back to his business of taking an apple and segmenting it with his claws.  <br/><br/>“Hordak?” Perfuma asked.  <br/><br/>The clone gave her a red-eyed glare.  Scorpia nudged her girlfriend.  “That’s not Hordak.” <br/><br/>“When our eyes began changing,” the clone said smoothly, “Some of us were the recipients of red.”  He held up a hand in a…salute?  “I assure you I take no offense. I am often mistaken for my honored brother.”  <br/><br/>“I’m sorry, anyway…” Perfuma apologized.  “It’s just… in this dim light; I suppose I didn’t see how light your hair was.  Is your friend okay?  I can generate some herbs…” <br/><br/>“No need! No need!” the other one – a spacebat with grown-out hair and light blue eyes behind the large round lenses of a pair of eyeglasses insisted. He sported bandages wrapped around his face.  “A medic has already seen to me and he didn’t decommission me or anything!”  <br/><br/>“Decommission…”  Scorpia trailed off, trying to place the term.  She was sure she’d heard it before in relation to the Horde’s robots.  <br/><br/>The wounded clone took a hearty bite of a pear.  <br/><br/>“I am… glad you are enjoying the fruit,” Perfuma offered, “I am Perfuma, Princess of Plumeria and have you met Scorpia yet? She’s the Princess of… a lost kingdom…” <br/><br/>The red-eyed one smiled.  “I am Robin,” he said. <br/><br/>“Jerome,” the other one added.  <br/><br/>“Hey, I think I’ve heard of you two!” Scorpia said excitedly. <br/><br/>“You’ve heard of them?”  Perfuma asked.  <br/><br/>“Yeah…” she gestured with a claw at the two.  “I think Adora said something about a pair of clones that bury the dead?”  <br/><br/>“That would be us,” Robin said with a hand to his chest and a smile as he sat down next to his brother.  “We have been trying to keep in touch with Bright Moon for records-keeping purposes.  We carry our computerized data collection devices with us, but we also wanted to write a paper… book, was it, Jerome?”  <br/><br/>“Yes, I believe they are called books,” the other clone said.  <br/><br/>“We do need to study, or if possible, download the written languages of Etheria to make it work.”  <br/><br/>“Well, I do think Queen Glimmer can help you with that, although shouldn’t Entrapta have a better set-up?”  <br/><br/>“She helps us with First Ones data-crystals and some of our other technological concerns,” Jerome spoke up, “but we wish to also create a record that is more accessible to the common people of the planet, so that they might know the stories of their former enemies, our brothers, as much as we are able to tell them.”  <br/><br/>“We actually stopped by here for other purposes,” Robin explained.  “We found a brother who was not yet dead, but near it.  We aided him, but thought it best to bring him to the medics here and for general acclimation.  He… wounded Jerome and so he also required a visit to the medics.”  <br/><br/>“It is bad enough that my eyes have a weakness,” Jerome sighed, “and now this.  I am told that the scratches will scar.”  <br/><br/>“I’m so sorry!” Perfuma said.  “Like I said, I can generate several kinds of herbs that may alleviate your pain.”  <br/><br/>“It’s quite alright.”  <br/><br/>“Hey, scars aren’t so bad,” Scorpia offered.  “They’ll make you look tough!  I’ve got a few scars on my carapace, right here!”  She leaned over the table to show him her shoulder. “I mean, they’re faint.”  <br/><br/>Jerome’s ears dipped and he basically shrunk, his attentions suddenly captivated again by the fruit-bowl.  <br/><br/>“Let us not dwell upon…imperfections,” Robin said.  <br/><br/>At that moment, one of Entrapta’s human foodservice staff entered the room carrying a covered tray.  “Alright, good sir,” he said, placing the platter before Jerome.  “It’s… an unusual request, but I suppose I’ve been getting used to them lately.”  <br/><br/>“Much obliged,” the clone answered as the elfin-eared busboy uncovered the dish.  <br/><br/>“Oh!” Perfuma said, putting her hands to her mouth.  Scorpia didn’t react as if anything was particularly out of the ordinary.  <br/><br/></p>
<p>Steam rose from the object on the plate – a large, armored insect-grub.  <br/><br/>“Oh, I know this!” Scorpia said.  “I saw people in the Crimson Waste eating them… I think they call them land-lobsters!”  <br/><br/>They both watched in amazement as Jerome tore apart its chitin with his bare claws, grab handfuls of steaming meat out of it and cram it all into his mouth.  <br/><br/>“A bug?” Perfuma complained, “Oh, I think I’m gonna be sick…”  <br/><br/>“My companion requires protein after taking his wounds,” Robin spoke evenly.  “Entrapta has found that arthropods are a good source of it for us, most compatible with our biology – at least if we wish for more flavor than Lord Hordak’s ration-bars.”  <br/><br/>Jerome was happily munching and did not answer.  <br/><br/>“Are they making one for you, too?” Scorpia asked.  <br/><br/>Robin took an orange from the fruit-bowl and began peeling it casually.  “No,” he answered.  “I have chosen to be what your people call a vegetarian.”  <br/><br/>A few clones that were passing through the room suddenly stood still as if they’d found something shocking.  Robin slowly nodded to them. They nodded as well.  Scorpia noticed that their eyes took on a sad expression before they moved onto whatever business they were attending to.  <br/><br/>“Oh, I’m a vegetarian, too!” Perfuma said excitedly.  “If I’m told what you’re compatible with…well, we can swap recipes!”  <br/><br/>“I think I’d like that,” Robin said with a calm smile.  <br/><br/>“There are quite a lot of people who are vegetarian in Etheria and for different reasons.  In Plumeria, it’s just so easy to grow plants that it’s the most ecological choice.”  <br/><br/>“I take no offence to the choices of others,” Robin explained, “I just… I dislike the texture of flesh.”  <br/><br/>Another clone looked into the room from a doorway and looked decidedly uncomfortable.  <br/><br/>“Is it… unusual… in your budding culture, I mean…?” Perfuma fumbled, twiddling her fingers, “for one of you to choose to be vegetarian?”  <br/><br/>Robin’s ears dipped.  “No, but insistence upon it has…become something of a mark,” he said.  <br/><br/>“People shouldn’t bully you over it, even if they are your brothers!” Scorpia said.  <br/><br/>Jerome gulped down the last bit of his giant bug and put a hand on Robin’s shoulder.  “It’s not that at all!” he insisted.  “No one bullies my closest brother!”  <br/><br/>“The few of us who refuse flesh of any sort,” Robin began, “It is… because of events of the war, or past wars.  One would think it would have traveled through the hive mind, but the fear seems to affect only those of us who have been personally touched by it.”  <br/><br/>“Brother, you do not have to explain it if you do not wish to.  They are Etherians.  I doubt they would understand.”  <br/><br/>“Entrapta bore no judgment.”  <br/><br/>“Is this about the green fluid you take?”  Perfuma asked in curiosity.  <br/><br/>“Yes and no,” Robin answered.  “I’ll tell you my story.”  <br/><br/>Jerome shook his shoulder.  “You don’t <em>have</em> to, brother!” <br/><br/>“I believe it will further our inter-cultural understanding.”  He took a bite of a sliver of orange and continued.  “You see, during the final war, I was part of a flock that came down on the spire that landed in the Kingdom of Snows.  It is quite a harsh area of your planet.”  <br/><br/>“Our friend Frosta rules it,” Scorpia said with a smile.  “The central-city is pretty prosperous.”  <br/><br/>“The spire was in the outer tundra.  When Horde Prime…was destroyed…and the hive mind was broken, communication between the spires went down, as did supply-lines.  Due to the bitter chill, my flock had been taking extra rations of amniotic fluid to withstand the cold, under Prime’s orders.  Needless to say, soon after the Great Disconnection, the supplies of it that were aboard our spire were quickly depleted.”  <br/><br/>He munched another orange slice before continuing.  <br/><br/>“We huddled, together but alone and we lived off of the spire’s supply, hoping that the emptiness within us was a temporary problem with the network and that the shining light of Prime would embrace and assure us once more.  It was not to be and we were isolated.”  <br/><br/>“I have heard that the Kingdom of Snows was one of the last places that your people were rescued from?” Perfuma offered.  “That and the Velvet Glove itself, and some of those that wandered deep into the mines here in Dryl.”  <br/><br/>“Lord Hordak and Lady Entrapta still find a stray wanderer or two lost in the system,” Jerome concurred.  <br/><br/>“Another kind of emptiness happened within us,” Robin said with ears titled down, “that of hunger.  Once our spire’s supply of amniotic fluid ran out, we were left helpless and starving.  We were… generally not permitted to eat solid food – it being a privilege only for Prime, however, one exception to this rule was when we were trapped behind enemy lines, stranded planetside.  It was always something shameful, but it was deemed better to glean grains and fruits from the fields or to catch small animals to keep us going as we awaited rescue or further orders.”  <br/><br/>“This is why it has been a bit difficult for some of our brethren to accept food,” Jerome added.  “It was forbidden for pleasure and associated with failure.”  <br/><br/>“I see…” Perfuma said tentatively.  <br/><br/>“You don’t have to worry about that anymore,” Scorpia assured.  <br/><br/>“It goes a bit deeper with some of us,” Robin intoned.  “Jerome and I have become quite accustomed to solid food, without shame.”  He finished his orange, smiling.  “Etherian food is very good, but I will leave Jerome’s appetite to some things.” <br/><br/>Jerome let out a small belch.  “Whew… the grub was… quite a bit.”  <br/><br/>“As I was saying,” Robin continued, “War stories.  I was stranded with my flock – of which Jerome was thankfully not a part. There was precious little that could be eaten in the tundra – some lichen and a few berries at best.  We even ran out of that as we stayed by our spire.  We dare not venture far from it.  All of us were confused and bereft and chose to follow our last orders, awaiting the re-connection of the hive mind.”  <br/><br/>Both Scorpia and Perfuma regarded him with sadness, imagining how painful it must have been to wait patiently for something that would never come.  <br/><br/>“Faith began dwindling after much time… I am… I am unclear on the time-frame in the Etherian measure, ‘weeks,’ I believe we were told, eventually, by our rescuers. We began to fall.  Those that strayed too far from the shelter of the spire were taken by cold.  Those that came late to the last of the stores of amniotic fluid and did not get enough of it starved to death first.”  <br/><br/>Robin regarded the two Etherians very seriously and let out a sigh.  He rested his hands on the table in front of him.  “In very extreme circumstances we were permitted… to harvest from the battlefield.  By the time some of your people from the Kingdom of Snows found us, only seven of us remained – I and six others of my flock.  We survived by, well, by partaking of our fallen brothers.”  <br/><br/>Perfuma let out a sharp “Eeep!” and sidled close to Scorpia.  <br/><br/>“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Scorpia said.  <br/><br/>“I ate very little… cutting just enough to stay alive,” Robin looked at the claws of one hand.  “I was without a name then, and the fallen of my flock went without names.  I watched as… as your people insisted upon burying what was left of them beneath the ice and snow and marked where they’d done so.  I suppose that is where I was inspired to do what Jerome and I do.”  <br/><br/>“We went back,” Jerome added solemnly.  “We found the graves and gave them what names Robin thought appropriate, since between us, he had known them last.” <br/><br/>“Salvation.  Hero.  Lamb…as in the closest name for a sacrifice I could find that seemed right… There was a brother I named Tidbit, simply because I had the feeling that he would have found it humorous if he had survived.  He was rather rebellious – one that Prime had cleansed many times – I recognized him…” Robin rattled off.  “The other surviving six of my flock have gone to different parts of the planet.  One of them stays here in Dryl.  We’re all finding lives of our own, and every one of them I have talked to… well, it seems that none of us can handle the texture of either animal-flesh of any kind or frozen things anymore.”   <br/><br/>“Other clones have had similar experiences in past battles – on different planets,” Jerome said.  “This seems to be common to those who share the experience, although it never transferred to us all, despite the hive mind.  It apparently is something that only happens to those who have a direct, physical experience.  The amniotic fluid is made from our life-force, so we’ve taken from each other for eons, but something about taking muscle and organ tissue in particular is a cause for trauma.”  <br/><br/>“More visceral, I guess?” Robin posited.  <br/><br/>“Please stop!” Perfuma begged.  <br/><br/>Entrapta entered the room, carrying a tray of tiny sandwiches on a tail of her hair. Emily came up behind, a tray of more delicacies mounted to her head. Hordak followed her.  <br/><br/>“I don’t think we’re hungry anymore,” Scorpia said.  <br/><br/>Hordak grunted and glared at Robin.  He’d heard part of the conversation from the hall.  “Did you not remember what we discussed?” he asked.  <br/><br/>“Yes, most honored brother, but I was inquired about my diet.”  <br/><br/>“I told him that he didn’t have to say anything!” Jerome insisted.  <br/><br/>“Most Etherians are quite… sensitive… regarding matters of war and survival,” Hordak said.  <br/><br/>Scorpia took a sandwich and gulped it down.  “Cream cheese and fruit?” <br/><br/>Hordak nodded.  “Entrapta thought that I should attempt food-preparation as a hobby.”  <br/><br/>“Pretty good, Sir!”  <br/><br/>Hordak smiled.  <br/><br/>Perfuma was still shaking from Robin’s story.  <br/><br/>“Go on and eat, please?”  Robin said.  “I really did not mean to disturb you so.”  <br/><br/>“All…alright,” Perfuma said, taking a sandwich.  The truth was that she was quite hungry.  <br/><br/>Robin smiled cheekily.  “So nice to sit down with people,” he said.  “It’s been quite a long time since I’ve had friends for dinner.”  <br/><br/>Perfuma let out another sharp “Eeep!”   <br/><br/><br/><br/></p>
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